He said it: Stars GM Jim Nill on Sunday’s NHL Draft

“Well, everybody knows him well. If he’s not the best player, he’s one of the best players in the draft. There’s definitely the Russian factor but we’re a very confident organization. I come from an organization in Detroit where it was never an issue for us and I know Dallas is the same way if you go back to the Zubov years. So, like I said, it got to a point in the draft where we were picking, to pass up on a player like that we just couldn’t do it. It’s been a while since Dallas has drafted a player with that kind of upside and just something we couldn’t pass on. We met the player yesterday. We had a meeting with him, a one-on-one meeting. We had our management team in there and ownership team. We were just so impressed with the player that we knew it was something we couldn’t pass on.”

On if there’s any issues with him transferring here:

“We plan on signing him as soon as possible. He’s free. His contract is free from Russia. We have notice from the NHL from the KHL. So there was no problem that way for us. That’s not a concern.”

On if Nichushkin will be in the NHL next year

“Really think he’s going to have a chance. We’re going to monitor it. I want to be careful with it but he is a young player. He played in the KHL against men. He played in the Russian Final, the KHL Final and was one of the better players. We’re not worried about him physically. It’s just going to be moving over to North America, playing in the NHL, the best league in the world. Our plans are to start him here and let’s see where it goes but we’re going to monitor him very close.”

On if there’s a chance he could play in the AHL next year or if he would have to go back to the KHL if he doesn’t make the NHL:

“We’ll just monitor it. I’m not really judge anything at all. I just want to watch. He’s coming to our development camp. He’s going to come over here. We plan on keeping him here in Dallas for the summer. We want him to get working on his English and get him acclimated. We’re going to get him over here. Let’s get him to go through training camp, go through Traverse City rookie tournaments. I want him to fully adjust. We’ve got to remember he’s a 19-year-old kid. Something I’ve always preached is about patience and if he’s ready, he’s ready but we’re going to be patient with him also.”

On the Stars drafting a lot of wingers

“They were just the best players available at that stage. Dickinson really plays center also. He’s flexible. He can play any forward position. Elie is a winger. They were just the best players at that position at the right time.”

On what he liked in Jason Dickinson, taken 29th overall:

“Well, he’s a big, strong kid, strong skater, plays 200 feet, plays hard on both ends, has got good skills. He’s intriguing. He’s got a little bit of a Ryan Kesler type of game to him. We like his size. He’s got good puck skills, can play a physical game. He was someone we had ranked pretty high.”

On the goalie, Philippe Desrosiers:

“The goalie, we watched him all year. He was very good for Team Canada. They won the gold medal at the Under-18 championships. He was their No. 1 goalie, went in there as the backup and ended up taking the No. 1 position over. He’s very athletic and we like his upside.”

On how important it is to have the right rotation of goalies coming through

“It’s important. He’s going to go back. He’s got two years of junior left down the road and then the process starts of three, four years in the American League and that. You’re looking at it is; like a five-year gap with all these goalies. We’ve got (Kari) Lehtonen for five years and then we’ve got Jack Campbell coming up. We just want to make sure we’ve got somebody in the pipeline all the time. It’s very important.”

On this draft being a long-term process for the most part

“Other than Nichuskin, he’s a special player…the other guys it’s a three to five-year process and that’s something that I’m very strict on. We have to be patient. You can’t rush kids. You just can’t. Patience is a word that’s kind of lost in our game and it’s something we have to really be strict with ourselves on. These guys are all, like I said they’re three, five years away. If they surprise us, great but our plans [are to preach patience]. The biggest thing is don’t break the chain. You can’t go through a draft if you don’t have any picks.”

On how he looks at the center situation

“We have free agency coming up and that’s going to be our next step. We went into this draft there was lots of talk that there might be lots going on but surprise, surprise, not a lot happened trade-wise. I think it’s a lot of factors. With the cap coming down, teams don’t have a lot of money. We’re all starting to sign our players to these six, seven, eight-year deals so there’s less free agents available and for the key free agents that were available, teams jumped in early. That’s what we did with Gonchar. We targeted two or three defensemen that were going to be key defensemen and Gonchar was one of those guys. So between us and Philly jumping in and grabbing a couple free agents early, that just ties up the market. That’s what happened.”

On how hard it is to find a center

“Well, centers are hard to find. Center and defensemen are two key positions. The good ones, they’re tied up. They’re signed. That’s why Vinnie Lecavlier is so important, he has high-end skill and he’s available.”

On this being his first draft as GM

“Every draft’s a big day for the organization. It doesn’t matter who the GM is. In this new system, this new CBA, drafting and developing it’s your lifeline and if you’re successful at it, the organization can be successful. I thought our staff had a great day today. It was my first draft with them and I got to kind of sit back and watch how they operate. They did a great job. I thought our selections were great. It was a great day for the organization and we’re going to kind of reap the rewards later on down the road.”

On Gonchar’s role in helping Nichushkin’s transition to the NHL and America

“Well, I think Sergei Gonchar’s going to be a big, big part of Valeri Nichushkin’s development. Sergei Gonchar’s a high-end character guy. He’s the guy that gets a lot of credit for improving Malkin in Pittsburgh. The timing’s worked out perfect. He’s a great ambassador of the game and character guy. Now we have a young guy coming in that can learn from him, that’s really a bonus for us.”

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